Episode 196: The Best Films of 2019
Show Notes : We go through our top ten favourite films of 2019. This is the only list you'll ever need. You can throw out every other film that came out this year! Films Discussed * Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Dir. Sidney Lumet * The Killer (1989) Dir. John Woo * Big Daddy (1999) Dir. Dennis Dugan * Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) Dir. Ang Lee * Kill Bill: Volume 1 & 2 (2003-2004) Dir. Quentin Tarantino * The Squid and the Whale (2005) Dir. Noah Baumbach * Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006) Dir. Isaac Florentine * Ninja (2009) Dir. Isaac Florentine * Observe and Report (2009) Dir. Jody Hill * Undisputed III: Redemption (2010) Dir. Isaac Florentine * Django Unchained (2012) Dir. Quentin Tarantino * Amour (2012) Dir. Michael Haneke * Spring Breakers (2013) Dir. Harmony Korine * Ninja II: Shadow of a Tear (2013) Dir. Isaac Florentine * American Sniper (2014) Dir. Clint Eastwood * The Witch (2015) Dir. Robert Eggers * Bone Tomahawk (2015) Dir. S. Craig Zahler * Murder on the Orient Express (2017) Dir. Kenneth Branagh * Bodied (2017) Dir. Joseph Kahn * 15:17 to Paris (2018) Dir. Clint Eastwood * War (2019) Dir. Siddharth Anand * Saaho (2019) Dir. Sujeeth * Joker (2019) Dir. Todd Phillips Discussion Notes * The ICC double Top Ten of 2019 ** Don't watch any other movies! ** Will - "I hate this annual episode" ** Justin - "It doesn't mean anything" ** Both hosts - "Thank God for Letterboxd" * End-of-year lists are mostly people showing off - 'look what I think is good!' * Lists should be for sharing new things to people and making recommendations * Justin's List (unranked) ** Atlantics (2019) Dir. Mati Diop *** A different take on I Walked with a Zombie ** The Lighthouse (2019) Dir. Robert Eggers *** A loud, big, and very funny take on Lovecraft ** Little Women (2019) Dir. Greta Gerwig *** "Likely to become the definitive version of the text" says man who has never seen or read another version ** Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy (2019) Dir. Surender Reddy *** "The kind of political propaganda I can get behind 100%" ** Uncut Gems (2019) Dir. Josh & Benny Safdie *** The right 'full Sandler' movie at the right time ** Marriage Story (2019) Dir. Noah Baumbach *** Excellent performances in a story that has divided audiences over sides to take ** Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019) Dir. Quentin Tarantino *** "It's made for me" - saw it three times in theaters ** Knives Out (2019) Dir. Rian Johnson *** Excellent balance of tone and content in the mystery genre ** The Twentieth Century (2019) Dir. *** A surreal farce with an emotional center about a milquetoast neo-liberal and the Canadian identity ** Avengement (2019) Dir. Jesse V Johnson *** Tightly structured revenge story that is everything DTV action should be * Will's List (ranked) ** 10. High Life (2019) Dir. Claire Denis *** A grueling experience filled with sensual beauty ** 9. Parasite (2019) Dir. Bong Joon-ho *** The obvious statement is it's great ** 8. Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy (2019) Dir. Surender Reddy *** Super fun ridiculous anti-oppressor action ** 7. Dragged Across Concrete (2019) Dir. S. Craig Zahler *** Great story, racist politics, with enough craft to not dismiss outright ** 6. Richard Jewell (2019) Dir. Clint Eastwood *** Unadorned story of the loser everyman wanting to be a hero ** 5. Rolling Thunder Revue (2019) Dir. Martin Scorsese *** "What more do you want?" ** 4. The Beach Bum (2019) Dir. Harmony Korine *** A beautiful film filled with attractive repulsiveness ** 3. Uncut Gems (2019) Dir. Josh & Benny Safdie *** Like going on a ride ** 2. Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019) Dir. Quentin Tarantino *** Has risen in estimation since original viewing, haunted by last shots of the film ** 1. The Irishman (2019) Dir. Martin Scorsese *** Will's parents loved it Listener Letters * No letters this week! Post-Outro Discussion *Do you still get angry when you see a negative review of a film you love? **Twitter was invented to bring annoying takes right to you **Our hosts feel they have grown out of the age of needing to debate strangers on the internet ***Letterboxd 1-star reviews can put that urge back into our hosts though *Will and Justin have come to accept each other for who they are on social media **Don't take internet reviews so seriously! Category:Episodes Category:Best of Lists